Courtesy of Judith Gregg Librarian Catherine Arbogast heads out with a personalized book delivery from the Los Altos main library.

Love of learning and curiosity about the world sometimes grow only more urgent as a person spends more and more time at home, limited by age, health condition, or both. Librarians head out from the Los Altos main l...

Already known as an innovator in the tech field, Google Inc. is now moving in on the art world.

The Mountain View-based company July 11 launched the “Paint the Town” contest, a “moving art experiment” that invites California residents over the age of 13 to submit physical or digital artwork that would decorate the door...

Traci Newell/Town Crier The six-week, tuition-free Stretch to Kindergarten program, hosted at Bullis Charter School, serves children who have not attended preschool. A teacher leads children in singing about the parts of a butterfly, above.

courtesy of Rishi Bommannan Rishi Bommannan cycled from Bates College in Maine to his home in Los Altos Hills, taking several selfies along the way. He also raised nearly $13,000 for the Livestrong Foundation, which supports cancer patients.

The Town Crier’s recent article on coyotes venturing down from the foothills in search of sustenance referenced the organization Project Coyote (“Recent coyote attacks keep residents on edge,” July 1). Do not waste your time contac...

Photos by Alicia Castro/Town Crier Local residents participate in an exercise class at the Grant Park Senior Center, above. Betsy Reeves, below left with Gail Enenstein, lobbied for senior programming in south Los Altos.

Grace Wilson Franks, our beloved mother and grandmother, left us peacefully on July 16, 2015 just a few weeks short of her 92nd birthday. She was born to Ross and Florence (Cruzan) Wilson in rural Tulare, California on Septem...

Most of us have a place inside our hearts and minds that occasionally causes us trouble. For some, it is sadness, depression or despair. For others, it may be fear, anger, resentment or myriad other emotional “dark places” that at times seem to hij...

Janine Zacharia, current Carlos Kelley McClatchy Visiting Lecturer at Stanford University, shared her experiences as an international journalist in the Middle East with The Morning Forum Lecture Series audience May 21.

Jerusalem Bureau Chief for the Washington Post December 2009 through April 2011, Zacharia discussed the role of the United States in Israel, Egypt and Syria offering an enlightening, if pessimistic, outlook.

The U.S. has intervened extensively in the Middle East in the 10 years beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, she said. Most European countries want the United States to continue to take the lead, but economic conditions and its diminishing resources may dampen U.S. involvement. What will be the benchmark for future U.S. intervention, she asked.

Zacharia discussed an example of the complexity of this problem by citing the uprising in Egypt in January 2011 that led to the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

According to Zacharia, the United States was caught off guard, believing its own intelligence data that President Mubarak was strong and could withstand the uprising. Israel urged the United States to call for the continuance of Mubarak’s regime. The U.S. did so, but Mubarak was out of power within a month, replaced by Mohammed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Zacharia said Egypt’s economy is bleak in the wake of the revolution. The new leaders are not sophisticated in economics, she said.

The uprising, known as the Arab Spring, has spread to other Middle East countries, including Syria. The Syrian government has already killed 70,000 people in an attempt to put down the revolution, Zacharia noted.

The difficult decision for the U.S., she said, is whether to intervene by sending troops, humanitarian aid or arms to rebels who may be supporters of Al Qaeda? To date, the Obama administration has not taken a public position.

When asked her opinion of the appropriate role for the U.S., Zacharia said, “I would like to see a coherent plan. The U.S. has to be a leader in the Middle East.”

The Morning Forum of Los Altos is a members-only lecture series held at Los Altos Methodist Church, 655 Magdalena Ave. For membership details and more information, visit www.morningforum.org.

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